Keeper of the Scrapbook

Finally! A actual paper scrapbook page.

Hello it's me again.

I am working diligently to finish the 'School of Life' scrapbook of my  youngest son's high school graduation which is less than 2 weeks away. Fortunately, I have been working on it for two years so I just need to scrap the current events from these last few months. The pictures from this layout are from spring 2007.

I used all Stampin' Up! supplies except for the 8 dew drops (gotta love those!). Not sure if my colors look true in the photo but the background is Soft Sky, the photo's are matted on Not Quite Navy and Chocolate Chip is used for the borders and accents. Accessories include the large and small star punch and a white gel pen for the journaling.

That's it for today. Thanks for looking.

Marcie

May - Photo a day

Hello!

The idea of a photo-a-day sounds deceptively simple and actually it is but it also forces me to focus on what is happening today that I want to record and remember.  One of the primary reason I decided to participate in the challenge was so that I could get better at capturing everyday life. Guess what? It's working!

I am also taking an online Photoshop course so I decided to combine the two things into the digi page you see below. I promise to post an actual paper layout tomorow. LOL

Outta here,

Marcie

May - Photo a day

Sorry I am so behind on my posting! I have been stamping and scrapping just not posting. :-(

The photo a day is challenging but fun. I am also taking an online class for digital scrapbooking and it is awesome! It is an excellent digi scrapbooking class plus in the process you learn Photoshop Elements. Love it!

Below is my photo for Day 1 and a digital scrapbooking page I made using the picture.

That's it for today. I'll try to post my traditional page tomorrow.

Thanks for looking!

Marcie

Photo a day in May

I am joining the awesome Jessica Sprague in a challenge to take a photo a  day in May. I know this month is going to be incredibly busy and I will already be taking pictures so I think it will be a good time to attempt the challenge.

I stumbled onto Jessica's website while blog-surfing photography tips. Every Friday she post a Photoshop Friday tutorial for editing pictures with various versions of Photoshop (including Photoshop Elements which I love!).

Here is a picture of some of the chaperone's from a recent choir trip to Gatlinburg. This picture is actually 2 pictures that I merged so that we could all be in one group shot. (That's me on the far right!)

I'll upload my first May picture tomorrow and also a scrapbook page that I have been working on.

Outta here!

Marcie

First digital scrapbooking page

Hello,

Sorry it has been so long since I posted! My son's have kept me busy for the past couple of weeks and that is a good thing. My sons are 17, 19 and 20 and I know I only have a short time left with them all here so I take advantage of times for us to do things together.

I wanted to share my first digital scrapbooking page! I participated in the virtual scrapbooking weekend on Splitcoaststampers over the weekend and one of the challenges was to make a digital page. I have to say I love the ease of manipulating the pictures and the elements but there is definitely a learning curve in working with Photoshop Elements. I used digital scrapbook pages and elements that I got free on the Creating Keepsakes webpage. I will definitely be doing more digital scrapping but my first love will always be the paper and ink! J

Have you tried digital scrapbooking and if so what do you think about it?

See ya!

Marcie

Stamped border page

One of my favorite things about using rubber stamps and scrapbooking is the endless possibilities to color coordinate and design your page. I had these pictures of my grandmother, my mom and her sisters since Easter and I really wanted to do something fun and different with the page. My grandmother is a natural gardener and can grow just about anything. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of going to her house and playing in the flower gardens. So all things considered this was a perfect opportunity for me to design a very "girlie" page (something I don't get to do very often since I have 3 sons!). The weekly Friday scrapbooking challenge was to use our stamps to make a border so I stamped the flower from 'Embrace Life' down the left side and stamped the words 'embrace life' between the flowers. I then used my markers to color the flowers to match the colors my mom and my aunts were wearing.

If you haven't tried stamping on your scrapbook pages I encourage you to take a chance and try it. SU Craft ink gives a very nice look as will most pigment type inks. Craft /pigment type inks are recommended for scrapbooking because they will last longer and resist fading. I stamped the images using black Stazon (love it!). I used a white gel pen to journal around the pictures and some white craft ink and a blender pen to highlight the flowers.

See ya,

Marcie

Another Progressive Scrapbooking page

This is the 2nd page for my progressive scrapbook layout. This time I used SU basic gray as my background instead of a patterned paper. For the white row at the top I masked the section off using blue painters tape** and painted the white onto the card stock using a foam paint brush. After the paint dried I stamped on it and completed the page. The 6x6 page is popped up on dimensionals like a pocket. I then put the extra pictures in the pocket. **Note when using the blue painters tape press the tape lightly on your jeans or some other cloth to get some of the stickiness off before you attach it to your paper. The fibers from your clothing should keep the tape from sticking too much and tearing your paper (ask me how I know this!! LOL).

Progressive Scrapbooking

I participated in a challenge on Splitcoaststampers to make a progressive scrapbook page. If you aren't familiar with the term a progressive scrapbook page begins with a 6x6 layout, which is then added to an 8.5x11 layout, which is finally incorporated into a 12x12 layout. I had never made a progressive page but I have to tell you I really liked it. One of the things I really like is that by beginning with the 6x6 layout you are forced to focus on one picture/layout and then build around that. I will definitely use this technique again.

Recipe (all supplies Stampin' UP!); Paper - Basic Gray, Bravo Burgundy, Black, and Charbon DSP (retired). Stamps - Rough texture wheel, Celebrate Everything; Accessories - oval punches, white gel pen, rub ons.

The page is for my youngest son's scrapbook for his high school graduation in May. Since I have only been scrapbooking for about 2 years I decided to focus this scrapbook on his high school years.  This page is for the annual spirit week/homecoming activities. TFL.

Let me know if you decide to try a progressive page!

See ya!

Marcie

Scrapbook page re-do

A couple of days ago I posted the question 'do you re-do' your old/beginner scrapbook pages. Well some of you do and some don't! As for me I wish I didn't! LOL. I have put off posting this because I am not really happy with the results of the re-do. My son came into my office and was looking at the new page and I asked him what he thought (it's HIS soccer page). He said it was okay with him to keep the originals and not re-do any pages. So, I learned a couple of things... don't sweat the little things, you can't re-write history so leave my beginner work as my beginner work, and finally I just saved myself a bunch of work! I had a suggestion from Denise M. to print duplicate photos and re-do it while leaving the original intact. I think I will try that next time.

Here are my pages (obviously the original is on the one with purple!). What do you think?

Have you ever gone back and re-done a page from the past??

Do you ever go back and look at your first scrapbook pages and wonder what was I thinking and why did my friend let me do this??? I have! :-) Most of my beginner scrapbooking is okay but a couple of them must be redone. For instance... what was I thinking using a purple background for a soccer page with the kids wearing red and white uniforms??? Okay, this was back in the days before I was using SU but why didn't anyone warn me?? LOL. Anyway I am slowly going to be redoing a few pages (I will leave some as a record of my progress!) and I will feature a before and after shot. Let me know what you think. I have one page of a two page spread done so I will try to get that posted soon.

So my question to you is... do you redo your older pages??

See ya!

Marcie